


Knocked Out

by dunbar



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-06
Updated: 2017-09-06
Packaged: 2018-12-24 17:50:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,486
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12017952
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dunbar/pseuds/dunbar
Summary: Prequel to True Care, basically the behind the scenes 6x15 stuff of Theo carrying Liam because it definitely happened.





	Knocked Out

**Author's Note:**

> canon compliant & subtle shippy stuff c:  
> follows theo's thoughts and actions! just a drabble because i had free time honestly

The first time Theo knocked Liam out was out of necessity, because a moment later and Nolan would be either dead or in the process of dying.

Still, it wasn't very high on the list of things Theo wanted to do. He definitely didn't really give half a shit about Nolan. Sure, he didn't want some kid stupidly dragged into the fight between humans and supernatural to die, but it didn't really matter to him. But it did matter to Liam. And since Theo did care about Liam, and killing Nolan would have broken him completely, Theo had to stop him.

He had scared Nolan off, hopefully enough that he wouldn't return with backup, but it was a risk, and Liam was still out cold.

After what had probably been 15 minutes, Theo got sick of waiting for him to wake up.

"Wake up." He nudged the beta a few times before he started to come to. "Liam."

Liam opened his eyes, and Theo heard his heartbeat rise instantly which couldn't have been a good sign. He blinked and looked around, before immediately backing up on his hands into the edge of the cage behind him.

 _Shit_ was the first and only word that came to Theo's mind when he realized something about this specific exhibit was making things harder for Liam.

"Liam, we..." As soon as Theo started to speak Liam cowered, covering his face with his hands. "Fuck." He sighed.

Theo took a step closer, but he wasn't even sure Liam could see him. 

"I'm gonna get you out of here, don't freak out." Theo stepped forward again, trying to minimize the gap between them so he could hopefully pull Liam back to reality, literally.

Now that he was closer, or maybe now that he'd gotten used to the unbelievably strong smell of fear that was distracting him, Theo could make out Liam's whimpering and mumbling. Most of it was nonsense and a string of apologies, but he'd definitely heard the name Brett, something about being trapped, and another less coherent sentence about being a monster.

Theo was about to take his last slow step forward when he paused. He didn't smell the fear coming off Liam anymore. Now it was the strong smell of anger, and Theo was the only person in the area to direct it at.

Liam stood up, eyes glowing gold, and Theo's usually quick reaction time failed him as he got shoved into the hard rock wall just as Nolan had been only half an hour earlier.

Theo sighed again and shoved Liam off him long enough to swiftly move out of the way of his next punch and hit him over the head, knocking him out again. Liam was good in a fight when he was angry, but he was also freaked out and Theo was faster.

Theo combed his hair out of his face with his hand and stared at the unconscious boy in front of him. This was going to be a bigger issue than he'd thought. 

He had a couple options. He could leave him where he was until he was inevitably killed by hunters. Alternatively, he could just carry him around, avoiding at least 25 hunters in an abandoned zoo while holding an unconscious werewolf. Or he could just wake him up and immediately leave him to his panic and rage.

Theo thought about it for a second, but he already knew what he was going to do. He begrudgingly picked Liam up and hoisted him over his shoulder in a way that wasn't exactly comfortable, but it was better than any other options. Plus it'd take less explaining if Liam ever did wake up aware of his surroundings. It couldn't have been comfortable for him either, and Theo could already hear his hypothetical whining about "Theo's shoulder jabbing him", but for now he was unconscious, so it wasn't a priority.

Triggering or not, Liam hadn't lied about the zoo's tunnels being useful. Of course he would be the type to choose somewhere traumatic as a place to be decoys just because it also had useful features. Avoiding hunters wasn't as difficult as Theo had anticipated, but it wasn't easy either. It may have been, if he had left Liam for dead back in the cage, but not while carrying him around.

Liam woke up twice between exhibits, getting pissed off almost instantly both times. Theo sort of tried to calm him down the first time, but knocked him out promptly when he realized he wasn't getting anywhere. The second time, he didn't even bother.

By the time they got to the front of the zoo, the sun was already almost done setting. Unfortunately, there were also multiple hunters between where they were and Theo's truck—more than 5 but less than 10, Theo guessed from the heartbeats and voices.

Liam stirred where Theo had set him down so he could carefully look past the corner.

"Liam, just stay asleep." Theo whispered frustratedly as he came back over.

"Why do you keep hitting me?" Liam asked, way louder than Theo would have liked considering the number of hunters around.

"Shut up."

"Stop telling me to shut up, it was an actual qu—" Theo hit Liam before he could finish his sentence, just to avoid alerting the hunters who had just paused to listen as they were about to get in their trucks and leave, since Liam seemed to have zero volume control. Or zero awareness of his surroundings maybe, one of the two.

"Sorry," Theo whispered quickly, for really no reason. He felt worse knocking Liam unconscious when he wasn't in an angry rage.

Theo's shoulder was still sore, and they didn't have far to go at all, and plus, all the hunters in their vicinity had just left and the sun was gone. Theo let out a small huff as he put his arms under Liam, one on his back and one under his thighs, and lifted him gently. It was a lot more comfortable, but it felt pretty ridiculous.

They reached the truck only minutes later, and Theo put Liam down against a tree. Throwing him in the back would be a lot easier, but for some reason it didn't feel right to do that, especially after knocking him out repeatedly. 

Theo opened the door on the passenger side instead. He picked Liam up again the same way as before and carefully placed him in the seat and buckled his seatbelt, mostly out of habit. And it helped keep him sitting upright. 

Theo was about to shut the door when he saw Liam's hands. They'd healed, but they were still completely covered in blood. 

It shouldn't have mattered, but he still couldn't will himself to leave Liam like that for when he woke up. It'd freak him out, his own hands being a reminder that he couldn't control himself and almost killed Nolan.

Theo opened the back of his car and grabbed the box of wet wipes from the floor. He got them while living in his truck, and, although he didn't really need them anymore now that Liam had given him a place to stay at his house temporarily, he'd kept them.

Theo wiped off Liam's hands, slightly irritated with the fact that he was doing this for anyone. But Liam wasn't just anyone and he knew that, so he did it anyway. 

He threw the bloody wipe in the glove compartment for later, because he didn't want Liam seeing it either. He was kind of counting on Liam's general somewhat oblivious nature to not make the connection between his clean hands and Theo's involvement.

Theo finally shut the door and walked around, climbing into the driver's seat and started up the car. He paused, looking over at Liam to see if the hum of the car would wake him up, but he didn't even stir. 

Theo drove for a while, occasionally looking over at the boy next to him. Liam looked peaceful while he slept, the moonlight shining softly on his face. It was different from his usual demeanor; he usually looked pissed off or, at the very least, tense even when he smiled. It was easy to forget that he was a werewolf carrying more trauma than anyone should ever have to deal with. It was easy to forget they were in the middle of a war.

Liam finally began to wake up, and immediately brought his hand up to his jaw and groaned.

Theo couldn't help but smile lightly. "I had to knock you out," he said, both as an apology and as justification.

"Yeah, how many times?" Liam replied sarcastically, still feeling his face for bruises that hadn't healed yet.

"Five." Theo looked over and smiled happily, just glad Liam was back awake and not freaking out, and that he wouldn't have to knock him out again.


End file.
